Happy spring! The first day of spring (vernal – Latin for spring, equinox – Latin for equal night) is one of only two days when the sun passes directly over the equator and crosses that celestial equator going from south to north. The spring and fall equinoxes are the only two times of the year when the sun rises due east and sets due west. Pretty interesting!

Did you also know Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon after spring? I’m no astronomer, but that’s what I’ve read. Along those fun facts, the egg is a symbol of fertility in spring, and this time of year is also called Lent or Lenten.

With Easter around the corner, everyone is posting their fun Easter ideas and traditions, mostly on Pinterest. I’ve read about a variety of Easter basket items, and fun activities, and so on and so forth. These innovative suggestions got me thinking of different ways to enhance our own typical Easter traditions.

Naturally, my mind turns everything into a scavenger hunt! Yes, incorporating the standard Easter egg hunt with a scavenger hunt! Why not? Actually, I wish the idea crossed my mind when Kyle was younger. Adding another layer to the typical Easter egg hunt would’ve been the perfect challenge for my little man. He would’ve loved the extra effort on my part, and I most certainly would’ve loved to create something unique for his Easter experience ! What fun!

When I was little, our family tradition was for the “Easter Bunny” a.k.a. mom, to hide our dyed eggs around the house. The more I think about it, that was risky in the event we missed an egg and it remained hidden, especially with the summer heat fast approaching. That could’ve been lethal! I’m pretty sure mom counted the eggs to ensure none were overlooked. Although, that would’ve made for an interesting story about a rotten Easter egg, but no such luck.

Me, Nicole & Ryan Easter morning before church. 5/1981

With Kyle, we added another level of excitement by stuffing colorful plastic eggs with quarters and candy, and sometimes Matchbox cars in the larger eggs. He loved each of those equally. When the weather wasn’t too shabby, we’d hide the eggs in my parent’s orchard in the backyard. Early Easter morning, I’m talking about 4:00 am or so, Kyle would attempt to wake everyone for his Easter morning adventure. No one would budge, except leave it to good old Aunt Heather to give in to my little bundle of enthusiasm. I’ll admit, it wasn’t too difficult to get up early, since I was like a kid myself, excited for Kyle to find the eggs mom and I hid the night before.

Together, Kyle and I would pull on our rubber boots, still in our pajamas (Actually, I stand corrected, I was in my pjs, while I had to make Kyle dress in some sort of pant, usually sweatpants and a t-shirt. I was lucky if I got him to wear a coat.) and venture into the early morning hours to run around the yard looking for plastic eggs with flashlights in hand. That was always fun, watching Kyle dart from one tree to another, looking high and low. When the weather didn’t cooperate, we’d hide the eggs in the house, not exactly ideal but it worked.

So, back to my idea. How does an Easter egg scavenger hunt work? Simple. Create a map or a serious of riddles and clues to uncover the hidden Easter eggs. It can even be as detailed or as simple as desired, as per the age range of the participants. One idea is to give a single clue to one egg, which contains another clue to the next, and so on and so forth. If I was developing the Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt, I’d add scholastic questions to really challenge the child and reinforce his or her school subjects. I’d also add religious questions to reinforce the true meaning behind Easter. And if I’m designing the scavenger hunt in the typical Thrill of the Hunt fashion, I’d add online challenges for the child to take pictures and video along the scavenger hunt adventure. The entire family could join in on the fun for a family fun good time! This scavenger hunt doesn’t necessarily have to be targeted to young children (I’m thinking 4+), but could be developed for pre-teens and teenagers alike. That’s one way to include everyone on an Easter Egg Hunt Scavenger Hunt! This can be accomplished inside or out, or both.

Please note, Thrill of the Hunt will be hosting our first ever Dog Gone! Scavenger Hunt in Winchester, Virginia on Saturday, May 30, 2015. We’re also hosting our annual Doggie in Disguise Scavenger Hunts in local cities including Latrobe, Pennsylvania; Annapolis, Maryland; Alexandria, Virginia; and New Hope, Pennsylvania. Tickets are on sale now, but are limited. We’re still accepting local businesses to be added to the actual scavenger hunt to increase foot traffic to these locations.

Thrill of the Hunt is in the planning stages for our Singles Scavenger Hunt in Virginia. Keep your eyes peeled.

Speaking of different areas, we are always open to hearing suggestions on scavenger hunt themes and hometowns to bring our events. Please Suggest An Event on our website, or email Game@ThrillScavengerHunt.com. I seriously want to hear from you!

The trouble with weather forecasting is that it’s right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it. ~Patrick Young

Happy Groundhog’s Day! I’m not really sure how this holiday started, although if I looked into it I’m sure there’s a lot of history behind this unusual day. I do know it has become popular all around the world, and yes the most popular sight to take-part in the celebration is in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Right in my own backyard, the backdrop for the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray.

Having the opportunity to participate in the event, I can say first hand, it is something that needs to just be experienced for oneself. There’s not much to the town of Puxsutawney. In fact, without Groundhog Day it might even be extinct, being in the middle of nowhere. But alas it is not. It seems to be the pinnacle of Groundhog celebration everywhere, and they love their groundhog! It’s certainly evident when you walk around the charming little town. They have statues of groundhogs and everything seems to be revolved around such theme. I loved it!

About 15 years ago I went to participate in the festivities with an old boyfriend at the time. So it has been quite some time. I’ve always wanted to go back, but never had the opportunity. We stayed for a few days prior to the celebration and left the day after. It was really a lot of fun! The night before, we were told to head up to Gobbler’s Knob early. We were suppose to reserve a good place to see Punxsutawney Phil, but also to join in all the celebrations. I had no idea what to expect. First I was shocked, since getting up to Gobbler’s Knob was up this windy road, not in town like it was portrayed in the movie. But no matter, I was there to really soak up the event. We started walking, yes I mean walking at 9:00 pm the night before. We didn’t think it was too far, although to be honest I really don’t know how far we walked. I remember it took us a good bit of time and I was cold and overwhelmed. You see there were cars already lined up making their pilgrimage to Gobbler’s Knob, creating their own traffic jam. Can you believe it? Everyone was so sincere and nice, every few cars we walked past another would offer to let me sit inside to warm up, which I did! So that definitely delayed our world record walk to the top.

Once we arrived at the top of this hill there was a make shift parking lot that took the form of a country field. It actually resembled a football parking lot with all the tailgating going on. People built huge bon fires everywhere, and I mean HUGE. I watched some people go into the local woods and chop down small trees to keep the fires going. It was amazing. People were eating and naturally drinking and generally just having a good time. In fact, I don’t remember any chaos. I think I mentioned it but I will say it again, people were genuinely nice, very hospitable. As we walked around keeping warm by one of the many fires, people were offering us food and drinks. Me, knowing that the only bathroom available included a tree and leaves, I opted to omit any food or beverages, but I was still appreciative for the offers.

Soon 6:00 am rolled around and we proceed to enter the sacred gates of Gobbler’s Knob, you know to make sure I had front row seats to see Phil. All the inner circle guys wearing their formal coats and top hats entertained the crowed with music for a while. Did I mention, they don’t allow alcoholic beverages within the limits of the Knob? Yep, and it seemed as though most people respected the rule. No one wanted trouble, just to enjoy themselves.

Then the long awaited for 7:20 came when they brought out the rock star of the event. It was funny, that year Phil bit his handler. I did chuckle because he got a hold of his glove and really latched down. During the ritualistic ceremony, they gave some interesting stats of how many times Phil saw his shadow, how many times he was right, that sort of thing. Then they read from a scroll in very formal terminology, before announcing if he saw his shadow or not. It was kind of comical, watching the handler with his tuxedo and top hat, leaning in, to listen to a groundhog.

Then as soon as they said the words everyone wanted to hear, shadow or no shadow, the entire crowd of about 30,000 stormed out the same sacred gates they entered to go home. It looked like a stampede! I was actually afraid I was going to get swept up in the rush and get trampled. The year I went I think he saw his shadow, but I really can’t remember. All that excitement and anticipation and I can’t remember what the verdict was. On my defense I was extremely tired, hungry, and cold.

I’ve told this story to Kyle, although I doubt if he remembers it, nor do I think he cares. Either way, one day I’ll take him up to Gobbler’s Knob so he can experience it for himself, as I think everyone should. I had a great time!!